Mesarthim (Australia): “Planet Nine”

​I wrote about Mesarthim's latest album just a month ago, and now I'm writing about the same band again. The reason for this is that two songs were not included in The Degenerate Era, the full length released in August, and were instead released separately on the Planet Nine EP, which was released a week after the full length; since this EP is magnificent in my opinion, I absolutely need to write about it too. The songs in question are “Planet Nine” and “Burial”; they may have been excluded from the full length because of their length or because of a major emphasis on electronica. As I said in my previous review, Mesarthim is an atmospheric black metal project dedicated to astronomical and cosmological themes. Planet Nine is almost a fusion of black metal and electronica to the extent that it sometimes feels almost like techno-black metal, especially the eponymous song, at least some parts of it. Now, do not turn up your nose when you read techno because this EP retains all the coldness, iciness, and terror essential to black metal, and in fact, I think this experiment is something new and refreshing to my ears. I must say that I prefer the EP over the full length! If you too are curious and want to discover a new perspective on black metal, then listen to this fantastic EP!
 
Notes:
Planet Nine was self-released on August 13, 2020 as digital release; it was then released via Avantgarde Music on October 30 as digipak CD, and on November 30 as vinyl.
 
Personnel:
. other
. vocals
 
Text by Herjann
herjann@unholyblackmetal.com